Wii Fit date, bikes in Mario Kart

As well as adding Sonic to the Smash Bros. roster, Nintendo's Japanese press conference also brought us the local release date for Wii Fit, news of motorbikes in Mario Kart and a few details on the first games for downloadable service Wii Software (Wii Ware), announced this June.

It all comes courtesy of live blogs on Gemaga and Famitsu (diligently translated by IGN), and kicks off with news that the wobble-board fest that is Wii Fit will arrive in Japan on 1st December. That's my birthday, well-wishers.

As you will know from excitable write-ups like our one, Wii Fit is roughly equivalent to exercise. It's going to cost JPY 8800 in Japan, which is roughly equivalent to GBP 37 / EUR 53. Expect it to cost about 48 times that much in Europe, obviously, where a release date has yet to be confirmed.

Also loitering around was news that Mario Kart Wii will be out over there in spring (it's listed as first-half 2008 over here), and it will include motorbikes! That's about all we know for now, but in our experience you don't need much more detail than that to zoom around the comment thread making silly noises.

There was also talk of the first titles for the service known here as Wii Software and in the States and Japan as Wii Ware. You'll remember that the idea was, in Nintendo's words, to "provide developers with big ideas - rather than big budgets - an easy and very accessible way to create new games and bring them to the marketplace".

For now though there's no sign of those smaller developers, with Nintendo (Pokemon Farm, Dr. Mario), Square Enix (a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles title), Namco Bandai (Mojipittan Wii) and Hudson (Bomberman, Star Soldier R, Joy Sound Wii) the first names on the list. The Pokemon game apparently allows you to import your little friends from DS games Diamond and Pearl, while Joy Sound Wii is a karaoke machine and Mojipittan is described by eagle-eyed bloggers as a word game of some sort.

Elsewhere at the conference, there was also a sighting of Super Mario Stadium Baseball on a video reel and - we thought we'd save the best for last - the first news of a new Fire Emblem game for Nintendo DS.

All of which sounds rather exciting, although Nintendo in the US and Europe has yet to release any statements regarding the announcements, so we're reliant on the integrity of the Japanese blog circuit and wily translators to ensure their veracity. In other words, allow a small amount of salt to creep into your digestive remarks, but don't be surprised if it's all true. After all, SEGA Europe just confirmed the Sonic Smash Bros. connection.

And... rest.

Update - Do not rest! Word from a friend of Eurogamer's "man in Japan" is that Nintendo also announced a DS download channel as well, featuring demos, "special content" and the best entries in game design seminars. "Coming soon", apparently. Interesting!